A/N So this is a continuation from the last chapter of I Don't Get Sick- one of my stories on AO3

As Linda woke up that morning, she was slowly aware of the fact that it wasn't her room. Who was breathing beside her? Why did this place smell like her boyfriend? She rubbed her eye, yawned, and stretched. She opened her eyes, and everything slowly came back to her, "right."

Would her parents be mad that she spent the night at her boyfriend's house- particularly the boyfriend they don't like? Or would they not care that she wasn't there? Would they even notice?

"Linda spent the night?" Erin wondered, astonished, at the breakfast table that morning. All her siblings were downstairs with her, getting their breakfast. Saturdays were Mary's day to sleep in.

"Did you guys have sex?" Joe asked- way too enthusiastically if someone asked Danny- as he dunked his spoon in his cereal.

"What is wrong with you?" Danny asked as he tossed a wadded up napkin at this brother.

"Well did ya?"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"You better shut your mouth before I dump that cereal on your head."

Before Joe could retort, Linda came down in Danny's pajamas. "Morning," she yawned as the siblings murmured their good mornings.

"Coffee's hot," Danny gestured to the pot with his mug.

"Thanks." She looked at the cabinets, "uh..."

" 'Bove the stove."

"Oh." She walked over to the stove, and frowned, wondering how she was going to reach the mugs.

Danny walked over and opened the cabinet for her. "Which one you want?"

"It doesn't matter."

"You can use mine!" Jamie offered, jumping from his chair. He bounded over to his brother and Linda, and pointed up to the shelf.

Danny took down Jamie's mug- solely used for hot chocolate and soup or chili- and handed it to Linda.

She smiled, "thank you." It was a Snoopy mug, with Snoopy as a baseball player and four little Woodstock's standing around him. "Aw, it's cute!"

"Creamer's in the fridge, sugar's next to the toaster. Grab a bowl and some cereal an' have a seat," Danny sat down at the table.

"I'm not much for the cereal... got the stuff to make French toast?"

"Depends. How d' you make it?" Joe stood up and headed to the sink with his empty bowl.

"Toast, milk, syrup, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon. Butter for the pan."

Erin and Danny looked at each other. "Yeah, we got that."

"Do you mind if I make some for us?"

"I'll get the stuff out," Erin said getting up.

Mary was surprised to smell French Toast as she came down the stairs. Who would be making French Toast? Danny could barely turn the stove on by himself, Erin wouldn't want to go to that much trouble on a Saturday morning, Joe didn't know how to make it, and Jamie wasn't aloud around knives and the stove alone. So who was making it?

"Mom! Linda made French Toast!" Jamie exclaimed as Mary walked into the kitchen. That was right- Linda had stayed over night.

"You didn't have to do that, Linda," she smiled at the young lady.

"Oh, it was no trouble, really!" She smiled as she put the dirty pan in the sink. "I made some for you too. It's in the microwave."

"Thank you, dear."

The Reagans and Linda finished eating, then discussed plans for the day.

"You'll need some clothes, Linda," Mary suggested. "I have some old clothes in the back of my closet that may fit you."

She didn't think so, but she didn't say anything about it. "Or someone could drop me off at home, and I'll return these pajamas later."

"Nonsense! We'll find something in my closet. Come on."

"Oh, okay." She shrugged as she passed Danny and followed Mary. As she exited the kitchen, she heard Jamie's voice. His question made her blush.

"Danny? Can Linda stay over every night?"

She wished she had heard her boyfriend's answer, or had seen his face. She was sure he had blushed adorably.

Linda had a cute turtleneck in Mary's closet, but no pants. So Mary fetched a pair of Danny's old jeans. "You can just roll the cuffs up, and use this belt."

Linda took the chunky belt and jeans. "Thank you. I really appreciate you and your family, have I said that yet? You guys go above and beyond for me. And you certainly don't have to."

Mary hugged Linda, "of course, sweetie. We all love you."

She felt tears come to her eyes as she hugged Mary. She hoped she would become apart of the Reagan family some day.

"So are you really gonna win me an arcade ring?" Linda asked as Danny drove her to the mall.

"Oh absolutely. There's this one game, where you gotta shoot the targets. I kill that game."

"Yeah?"

"You sound skeptical." He stopped at the light and looked over at her. She only shrugged, "you don't believe me?"

"I'm just sayin'... based on that last basket ball game."

"You don't watch basketball!"

"I gotta walk through the gym, don't I? That ball almost hit me in the head."

"You're askin' for trouble."

Linda frowned suddenly, and looked down. "I'm sorry... I didn't- are we going back now?"

"No. Why would we?"

"... Because I'm in trouble."

"No you're not. Why are you in trouble?"

"Well... because you said so."

Danny frowned that time as he parked in the parking lot. He turned to Linda, "is there something you want to tell me?"

She blushed a little, "no."

"No? We were joking around, and suddenly you think you're in trouble?"

"Could we please just drop it?" She almost snapped at him.

He bit back his insistence, "you still wanna go in?"

"Yeah."

They got out and walked into the mall. The arcade canes were closer to the back, so they had a fair ways to walk. Linda couldn't stand the silence any longer, "I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier. It's just-"

"It's okay, Linda. You're just tried, right?"

"Yeah. I'm just tired."

He put his arm around her, all the words he wanted to say staying in his brain. He wanted to tell her he loved her, And he'd protect her. But that was too forward for a third date (maybe fourth- did this count?). Instead, he settled for, "did you know that you're my best friend?"

A smile and blush made their way across Linda's face. "You're my best friend, too."

They finally got to the games, after buying soft pretzels, and Linda stood by the machine while Danny played. It was a game like the ones at the fair where the player has to shoot down the metal ducks. She forgot about her troubles at home as Danny hit every single duck. The machine spat out a ticket, which was supposed to be taken to the cashier so the prize could be chosen.

Danny led Linda to the cashier counter. "Okay, Linda. What ring do you want?" He handed the ticket to the cashier.

Linda looked at the rings- there were a lot of options. She pointed to one of the mood rings. It had two doves with a peace sign in between them. "That one please."

The cashier gave it to her, and she slipped it on her left pointer finger. It immediately turned blue. "Thank you."

Linda was disappointed as Danny drove her back home. She wanted to stay with the Reagans for forever. She forced a smile when he parked in front of her house. "Thank you, Danny. I had a good time."

"No problem. See you Monday?"

She nodded, but didn't move. For a brief moment, she bit her lip; then she lunged forward a bit and kissed her boyfriend fervently. "I love you."

He smiled, "I love you too."

She grinned and got out of the car. Danny made sure she was safely inside before driving off; he was going to marry that girl.